Cross-Selling Made Easy: 5 Proven Techniques To Boost Your AOV

Stop and imagine what your business would look like if you could add 15% revenue overnight?

Like what you see? Well, stop imagining it because with a proper cross-selling strategy, you can boost your average order value and massively power-up your profits.

Seriously, there are few other tactics in eCommerce that produce such stellar results for so little effort. 

For example, eCommerce titan Amazon, estimates that up to 30% of their sales are due to cross-sells via product recommendations. Thirty-per-cent!

So, with that in mind, let’s jump in and discover how you can add cross-sells to your store and go laughing all the way to the bank.

What is Cross-selling & Why You Should Implement It

Cross-selling involves offering customers additional products that complement their initial choice or purchase.

Remember the last time you went to McDonald’s and were asked ‘would you like fries with that?’ Yup that’s a cross-sell.

In fact, that well-known cross-sell is estimated to account for between 15-20% of McDonald’s annual revenue.

Cross-selling benefits your business in several ways. 

For starters, effectively cross-selling a customer means your AOV will rise. This in turn will beef up your bottom line (Especially important with CPMs going through the roof these days).

Secondly, good cross-selling enhances your customer’s experience. For example, is a lonely burger from McDonald’s as good as the Big Mac meal complete with fries and a drink? No way! So, with a better product experience comes more repeat purchases and greater customer retention.

Thirdly, cross-selling is a way for you to manage your inventory better. You can clear out slow moving stock by offering it as a discounted cross-sell alongside more popular products.

5 Proven Cross-Selling Tactics to Try Today

Okay, now that you know what cross-selling is and why you need it, let’s tuck into some specific strategies you can use in your store. 

Let’s track the customer conversion journey from the product page and see how we can use different cross-sell methods along the way.

1. The Product Page Pop-Up Cross-Sell

The first type of cross-sell to experiment with is the pop-up cross-sell. A store that does this really well is natural deodorant brand Native.

When a customer clicks on an individual deodorant stick for $12, they’re presented with an offer to upgrade to a three pack product bundle for $30 and save 17% on the individual product price. 

The pop up is well designed with a striking product image, clear concise copy and a CTA that pops off the screen.

🔑Key takeaway: Add to Cart pop-ups are a powerful way to display upsells and cross-sells to shoppers who’ve shown high purchase intent. Use them in your store to nudge up your AOV.

2. The Cart Drawer Cross-Sell

The cart drawer cross-sell is very similar to a product page pop-up, however it’s slightly different in that it’s less intrusive than the full screen pop-up.

We’ve all been to sites where you get repeatedly blasted with pop-ups – and it’s fair to say it’s not pleasant. 

And while Native’s pop-up above is tastefully designed and easy to decline, for some it may still be too aggressive.

The Cart drawer cross-sell is more subtle and doesn’t carry any of the subconscious baggage that a full sized pop-up might conjure up.

Bidet brand Tushy, uses a cart-drawer cross-sell to encourage shoppers to upgrade their order and complete their bathroom set.

There’s a number of simple apps on the Shopify app store you can use to start offering cart page upsells. So, have a peruse and see if any of them appeal to you.

🔑Key Takeaway: You want to avoid making your cross-sells feel pushy. Make your offer easy to decline. Remember, only a small percentage of customers will convert on your offer – so don’t try to force it down everyone’s throat.

3. The Cart Page Cross-Sell

The next step in the conversion journey to cross-sell customers is the cart page. Your cart page will get lots of impressions. But the key thing is that those impressions are coming from highly-qualified shoppers.

So don’t let this valuable piece of digital real estate go to waste. Include cross sell offers just like our old friend Native does again!

Notice how Native introduces a sense of scarcity and urgency with the copy ‘These items are going fast!’

🔑Key Takeaway: The more commitment you have from shoppers to purchase, the more your cross-sell offers will convert. When customers reach the cart page, they’re very interested in buying – don’t miss the chance to capture a little more revenue from them!

4. The Thank You Page Cross-Sell

So far, we’ve looked at tactics to cross-sell your customers before they purchase. But cross-selling customers after they purchase can be even more powerful – especially thank you page cross-selling.

Seriously, Amazon does it, eBay does it, so you should be doing it too! The reason post-purchase cross-selling works so well is because you hit customers with offers right as they’re in peak buying mode. 

Plus,the psychological principle of consistency is working in your favor here too. This principle states that people tend to behave in ways that are consistent with earlier actions.

So, in other words, folks that have already bought from you (i.e. landed on your thank you page) are highly likely to buy again if you give them the chance.

🔑Key Takeaway: Think of your thank you page as a landing page. It’s the most under-exploited revenue-boosting page on most eCommerce sites. If you’re on Shopify use our app called ReConvert to add offers and other conversion widgets instantly.

5. The Post-Purchase Email Cross-Sell

If you thought that cross-selling stopped when a customer leaves your store – think again! 

Adding cross-sell offers to your post-purchase emails is a fantastic way to entice customers to come back and spend a little more money.

For example, check out how home decor brand Crate & Barrel use post-purchase emails to suggest products that customers may be interested in.

The beauty of these emails is that they typically have astronomical open rates. And as you know, more opens equals means more impressions which means more sales!

🔑Key Takeaway: Adding personalized recommendations to your post-purchase emails is a super low-effort high-return way to bring customers back for more and enjoy a healthier bottom line.

Go Forth & Cross Sell For a Bigger AOV Today!

With the costs of customer acquisition on the rise, it’s imperative that you focus your efforts on boosting your average order value.

Implementing an effective cross-selling strategy is one of the easiest ways to get more sales while also delivering an enhanced product experience.

Remember, that the key is to offer products that compliment your shopper’s initial choice. There’s an array of AI tools that can help you suggest recommendations based on your shopper’s browsing behavior – so check these out too!

In all, cross-selling is a powerful strategy that every eCommerce merchant needs to have as part of their ecommerce marketing strategy.

By neglecting to run cross-sell offers, you can be sure that you’re leaving revenue and profit on the table. So, how will you start cross-selling today?

This guest post was written by Fintan Meagher and the team at ReConvert. ReConvert is the easiest way to add thank you page upsells, cross-sells, surveys, and more to your Shopify store.